Increase efficiency, accelerate selection

The online tools that NSK provides to designers are designed to increase work efficiency and enable quick and targeted selection of rolling bearings and linear technology components for individual (and usually demanding) applications. NSK has now revised and improved this “toolbox”.

One of the new features is the linking of the online catalog with the technical calculations and the 2D/3D CAD data, which were previously not linked. The link enables designers to calculate and select rolling bearings, confirm specifications and download the corresponding CAD data in one continuous process - without double-entering the data.

Another improvement is a new function in the technical calculations that allows the calculation and display of various parameters such as bearing service life, fits and bearing clearance as well as bearing frequencies in one step. This speeds up the selection process.

One change that will have a significant impact on bearing selection is the consideration of the revised dynamic load ratings and thus the expected service life of rolling bearings. The corresponding values ​​have been adapted for the main types and series of the most important rolling bearing designs: deep groove ball bearings, angular contact ball bearings, spherical roller bearings, cylindrical roller bearings and tapered roller bearings. They can now be found in the NSK online catalog.

The background: After years of research, NSK has developed a new, very realistic method for predicting bearing service life. The quantitative assessment method, which has been patented and will be publicly announced for the first time in March 2023, can be used to determine which factors influence crack propagation in a bearing material and to what extent.

By combining this new concept with an ultrasonic testing method that detects the non-metallic inclusions in the bearing material, the service life of rolling bearings can be predicted with much greater accuracy than before. On this basis, NSK has revised the dynamic load rating of many rolling bearings and corrected it upwards - with the design unchanged and the same safety margin. The result, as an example: The expected service life of radial roller bearings has roughly doubled.

When the dynamic load ratings of the bearings improve in this way, they are suitable for higher loads and the designer can select smaller bearings that perform the same function. This reduces the installation space and also the weight of the drive, machine or vehicle. Here is another example: where the NSK tapered roller bearing HR32306J was previously used, the smaller HR33206J can now be used - with 14% smaller outside diameter, 13% reduced width and 38% lower weight.

Bearing users who are looking to improve their carbon footprint also benefit, because smaller bearings also have a smaller carbon footprint because their production requires fewer resources. They also require less torque, which leads to less power consumption and correspondingly reduced CO2 emissions during use. The above-mentioned change of bearing results in a reduction in the required torque and power consumption of around 18% (around 48 kWh per year). According to NSK calculations, this will result in a reduction in CO2 emissions of around 22 kg per year.